Tag Archives: Cradle to Cradle

The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has come out with a new video describing the benefits of Cradle to Cradle and how it can change the next generation to come. The non-profit organization is created to bring about a large-scale transformation in the way things are made. Cradle to Cradle certification brings customers products that drive innovation and redefine product quality. This rethinking of how we design, manufacture, use and reuse materials is underway and has become the new standard of quality. Like many did last week at Greenbuild, join the “I prefer” Cradle to Cradle certified revolution and be a part of the change.

Shaw Contract Group has hundreds of products that are Cradle to Cradle certified including our EcoWorx backing, Eco Solution Q fibers and LokDots installation system. Visit our website to learn about more about the good our products and Cradle to Cradle can do.

“Everything we focus on sustainability is centered around Cradle to Cradle. At Shaw Contract Group all of our products are Cradle to Cradle certified. We’re also talking about good energy. Good energy as it relates to embodied energy and our materials as we continue to work with Cradle to Cradle and use less energy to make, reclaim and remake materials, but also good energy around things like social responsibility.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw away about 9 million tons of clothes and shoes annually. With those kinds of statistics, it’s no wonder that fashion brands and designers are taking steps to create more sustainable clothing and help reduce the waste.

This year, designers like Gucci and Stella McCartney introduced some bio-degradable items into their lines. Gucci debuted sunglasses and footwear made with biodegradable plastics over the summer while Stella McCartney recently introduced several styles of heels with faux leather uppers anchored with chunky, biodegradable rubber soles. In the near future, Puma says it will produce a new line of T-shirts and sneakers that can be ripped up and buried in the ground as fertilizer.

“When it comes to fashion, we need to design products that can either go safely back into the biosphere, meaning they would be compostable, or safely become technical nutrients, such as polymers, metals and polyester, that can be recycled into new products,” said Lewis Perkins, senior vice president of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute in San Francisco. “We need to eliminate the concept of waste from our vocabulary and instead think of every material as a potential nutrient for future products. That will be the direction we need to head as a planet as we support 10 billion-plus people.”

Just 14% of the almost 13 million tons of textile waste generated annually from textiles used in clothing and footwear is recovered for reuse or recycling, according to the EPA. And while biodegradability is a step in the right direction, Perkins said the more important sustainable development in fashion is using more technical fibers such as polymers that can be recycled (or continuously used) This will help the environment since fashions made from natural materials are so water- and energy-intensive. Still, more designers are seeing its potential.

From hair products to fabrics to carpet fiber and surfboard wax, Cradle to Cradle certified products run the gamut. The idea of using, recycling and using again without losing any material quality has even made its way to the red carpet.

At the 2012 Academy Awards, actress Missi Pyle, star of the Academy Award-winning film The Artist, wore a dress designed by the winner of the Red Carpet Green Dress contest. The contest is an international design competition with the challenge being to make an Oscar-worthy dress made of solely sustainable materials. This year’s winning design was submitted by Valentina Delfino.

Shaw Contract Group manufactures an array of fiber, backing, and even our new LokDots installation system, that are Cradle to Cradle certified. With over 1,800 Cradle to Cradle flooring options, being sustainable is one of our top priorities.

This week Shaw Contract is celebrating World Green Building Week, a flagship event of the global green building movement – organized by the World Green Building Council and led by its network of 74 Green Building Councils and their 27,000 … Continue reading →

Made by Design: PLACES

Spend the day in a vibrant metropolis. Explore the shores of a coastline. In your travels, slow down. Take a glimpse of the changing landscape. City to sea, local to global, collaborate workplace to quiet retreat. Places captures single moments … Continue reading →